The invention relates to a hinge for hanging a door on the carcase of a cabinet, with a door-related part for fastening to the door and a carcase-related part which is coupled pivotingly to the door-related part by a jointed mechanism, can be fastened removably and adjustably on a mounting plate fastened on the wall of the carcase, and is configured as a supporting arm of channel-shaped cross section straddling the mounting plate. The door-related part is releasably joined to the mounting plate by a catch mechanism having a coupling means at the front end of the mounting plate and of the supporting arm adjacent the door, which permits the rearward portion of the supporting arm inside of the carcase to pivot relative to the mounting plate, while at the inner end of the supporting arm remote from the door, which at least partially straddles the mounting plate at its end pointing into the carcase interior, two tongues resiliently flexible parallel to the carcase wall surface are provided, each having a latch portion engaged with an associated catch in the mounting plate, the latch portions and the catches being able, however, to be disengaged by flexing the tongues against one another parallel to the carcase wall surface, and the tongues having finger grips whereby they can be squeezed together in this manner when the supporting arm is mounted on the mounting plate. The carcase-related parts of modern linkage hinges, which as a rule today are configured as elongated, channel-shaped supporting arms fastened on a mounting plate previously installed on the wall of a cabinet, were originally--and are still largely today--fastened on the mounting plate with screws. The hanging and removal of a door from a cabinet is then a laborious operation and as a rule requires the collaboration of two persons, one to hold the door in the desired alignment with the cabinet, while the door has the hinge pre-installed on it except for the mounting plate, so that the second person can guide the supporting arm of each of the preinstalled hinges onto the mounting plate already installed on the cabinet and screw it in place. Since adjustments of the hinges, especially horizontally toward or away from the cabinet interior, are made by shifting the supporting arm on the mounting plate with the screws loosened, the door must be held precisely in the desired position for installation for the length of time needed t tighten the screws, so as to assure that the adjustment will not be lost again if the door sags of its own weight. Installation is simpler and quicker with hinges developed in recent times, which can be snapped on and off the mounting plate (e.g., DE-OS 31 19 571; FIGS. 3 to 7). To make sure that the hanger coupling of these hinges will not be accidentally or unintentionally disengaged so that the door might come at least partially loose from the cabinet, additional security is often provided by a screw which is additionally tightened after the door is snapped on, and holds the supporting arm against the mounting plate.
On the other hand, the hinge of the kind mentioned above (DE-OS 38 20 338.3) constitutes a substantial improvement. Through the use of a catch mechanism having two independently acting tongues which can be disengaged only by squeezing them simultaneously together it securely prevents accidental disengagement, so that it is unnecessary to fasten the supporting arm by additionally screwing it to the mounting plate. To be able to perform the necessary adjustments of the supporting arm relative to the mounting plate, it is necessary to divide the mounting plate into two parts displaceable relative to one another; the supporting arm is tightly snapped onto the upper mounting plate part, while the upper mounting plate part is adjustable to the desired position relative to the lower mounting plate part. In this case, too, adjusting or mounting screws have to be tightened and/or loosened and retightened. Once the upper mounting plate part has been adjusted with respect to the lower one, the adjustment is preserved regardless or whether or how often the supporting arm is removed from the mounting plate and snapped onto it again. These last-described hinges immediately aroused great interest on account of the advantages described. The only disadvantage with respect to the older hinges is their more complex construction, with the result that the hinges are comparatively expensive.